With the goal of bringing in more foreign tourists to our country, the Department of Tourism (DOT) aggressively launched a global tourism campaign with the catchy slogan “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” Domestic travel has also been strongly encouraged among our countrymen, especially as it is relatively much cheaper to fly these days. Several months ago, I asked a taxi driver in Singapore (during a private visit there) what he has heard about the Philippines. The cab driver mentioned that he has heard about Cebu (likely because of the Gokongwei-run airline that has truly made flying cheaper with all its budget fares).

The attention given to our country by the international community is not limited to the Philippines’ stellar economic performance. Several tourist spots in our country have also gotten noticed, such as The Farm at San Benito in Batangas and the El Nido Resorts in Palawan. The Farm was awarded the Best Medical Wellness Resort worldwide at the International Tourismus Borse held in March 2013 in Berlin, Germany while the El Nido Resorts was given the Community Benefit Award by the World Travel and Tourism Council held in April 2013 at Abu Dhabi.

Tourism is being viewed by our economic planners as one of the key prospects of sustained economic growth, as the tourism sector contributes to foreign exchange receipts and jobs generation. In fact, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) noted in our recent release of official poverty statistics for the first semester of 2012, that among all the regions in the country, Caraga had a significant drop in the household poverty incidence from the first semester of 2009 (43.3 percent) to the first semester of 2012 (34.1 percent). The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) attributes this drop to the rising tourism industry. Thus, in the 2011-2016 Philippine Development Plan (PDP) of NEDA, tourism has been identified as a priority sector. The National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) of DOT also provides a number of targets for the tourism sector. It has been recently reported in the news that government intends to spend PhP 29 billion in tourism infrastructure expenditures, for this year (PhP 12 billion) and next year (PhP 17 billion). Clearly, these efforts to boost tourism should not depend on the national government and local governments alone. The private sector needs to make serious investments. But as government works hand in hand with the private sector, it is important to also examine some statistics on tourism.

Visitor arrivals continues to increase

Based on the latest statistics of DOT, visitor arrivals (which includes both foreign visitors and overseas Filipinos) reached the 4 million mark for the first time, reaching 4,272,811 visitors in 2012, almost hitting the target of 4.5 million visitors for the year. In fact in the last three years, the number of visitor arrivals has been on an increasing trend, 16.7 percent growth in 2010, 11.3 percent in 2011, and 9.1 percent in 2012. (Table 1)

The highest contributor to visitor arrivals in 2012 was East Asia, which accounted for 2,038,987 visitors, which is nearly half (47.7 percent) of the total visitor arrivals for the year. Next was North America, with 778,162 visitors or 18.2 percent while our neighboring countries in the ASEAN region accounted for 375,190 visitors or 8.8 percent. (Table 2)

The top three countries where the visitors came from were Korea, accounting for 1,031,155 visitors or 24.1 percent of the visitor arrivals, USA with 652,626 visitors or 15.3 percent, and Japan with 412,474 visitors or 9.6 percent. These three countries also occupied the first three places in terms of volume of visitors to the country in 2011. Among the top 12 countries by volume of tourists in 2012, Malaysia had the highest growth of visitor arrivals to the country at 24.8 percent, followed by Taiwan at 19.1 percent and Australia at 12.0 percent. (Table 2)

While the visitor arrivals to our country have improved over the recent years, these figures are lower in comparison with some of our neighboring countries. Data show that the Philippines has still a lot of catching up to do if we want to be competitive in the global tourism scene. Among the eight countries in the ASEAN, the Philippines came in only at seventh place. Malaysia had the highest level of visitor arrivals in 2011 at 24,714,000, with a share of 25.4 percent. Second was Hong Kong with 22,316,000 visitors or 23.0 percent and third was Thailand with 19,230,000 visitors or 19.8 percent. Malaysia and Hong Kong have been consistently in the first two places throughout the years. (Tables 3a and 3b)

In terms of expenditure, the average daily expenditure of the visitors in 2012 amounted to US$92.99, with accommodation as the highest at US$27.26 per day, followed by food/beverage at US$23.73, and shopping at US$20.61. For 2011, the average daily expenditure was US$91.88, with shopping as the highest at US$25.81 per day, followed by food/beverage at US$22.85 and accommodation at US$22.82. Length of stay of the visitors in the country averaged 9.6 nights in 2012 and 8.0 nights in 2011. In terms of total receipts, the DOT estimates showed that visitor receipts in 2012 was US$3.8 billion, higher by 27.5 percent compared to US$3.0 billion in 2011. (Table 4)

Looking at the monthly trends, 2012 data show that the peak months for visitors which include foreign visitors and overseas Filipinos are during the months of December with 442,088 visitors, January with 411,064 visitors, and July with 376,948 visitors. These same months hold true for 2011, with December as the highest, followed by the months of July and January. (Table 2)

When asked what things are liked most about the Philippines, a little more than half (52.6 percent) of the visitors in 2012 cited "warm hospitality and kindness of people". Next is "beautiful sceneries/nice beaches" cited by a little less than one fourth (22.6 percent), with the rest attributing other reasons, such as good food/liquor/fruits, able to see relatives/friends, good place for relaxation, and good climate. On the other hand, about a quarter (24.6 percent) of the tourists cited "heavy traffic" as the thing disliked most about the Philippines, followed by air/water pollution/dirty environment cited by about a fifth (17.3 percent). Other reasons include poverty/beggars/ unemployment and rainy/humid/bad weather among other things. These responses of the visitors followed almost the same ranks as in the previous year. (Table 4)

Domestic tourism also on the rise; top major destinations identified

Based on the report of DOT, domestic travelers in 2011 reached 21,047,604 or an increase of 23.6 percent from 17,030,447 in 2010. The top five destinations of local travelers in 2011 region wise were CALABARZON at 5,048,727, Bicol at 2,671,572, Western Visayas at 1,888,237, Northern Mindanao at 1,579,227, and Central Luzon with 1,557,746 travelers. By province, the local tourists chose to go to Laguna with 2,650,962 tourists, Camarines Sur with 1,979,217 tourists, Cavite with 1,767,025 tourists, Zambales with 1,134,221 tourists, and Cebu with 1,111,296 tourists. (Table 5)

For long holiday weekends during the period April to September 2010, results from the 2010 Household Survey on Domestic Visitors (HSDV) of the National Statistics Office (NSO) and the DOT showed that the Filipinos who traveled the most was during the Holy Week in April, with 1,306,000 travelers. Second was during Labor Day in May, with 903,000 travelers and third was during the celebration of Eid al-Fitr in September, with 582,000 travelers. (Table 6)

Data from DOT also showed that there was a total of 26,233,017 travelers (foreign travelers, overseas Filipinos and domestic travelers) in the country in 2011 or an increase of 20.3 percent from 21,808,657 travelers in 2010. The top five destinations by region were CALABARZON with 5,390,742 travelers, followed by Bicol with 3,413,610 travelers, Metro Manila with 2,727,457 travelers, Central Visayas with 2,610,757 travelers, and Western Visayas with 2,453,691 travelers. Among the provinces, Laguna was the top destination, followed by Camarines Sur, Cebu, Cavite, and Zambales. For foreign travelers alone, the top five major destinations in 2011 include Cebu, Camarines Sur, Boracay, Laguna and Bohol. (Table 5)

The regions with the largest increases in number of total visitors from 2010 to 2011 include Central Luzon (189.1 percent), Eastern Visayas (157.6 percent), CALABARZON (45.7 percent), Caraga (21.2 percent), and Western Visayas (16.9 percent). In the case of Caraga, there was a large increase of domestic travelers in Agusan del Sur, from 8,731 in 2010 to 70,900 in 2011, where Lolong, the world’s largest crocodile in captivity, stayed after it was captured in September 2011. Lolong has become a tourism draw, generating some revenues for the region, but unfortunately, the crocodile died in February this year. Aside from Lolong, the other attraction in the region is Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte, where the number of tourists went up by 23.9 percent. (Table 5)

As previously mentioned, according to NEDA, the tourism sector may have played a major role in the reduction of poverty in the Caraga region. Looking at the data for Caraga from the Labor Force Survey of NSO, there was a 3.4 percent increase in the number of employed persons in April 2011 at 1,014,000 from 981,000 in April 2010. Similarly, a 3.3 percent increase was recorded in April 2012, with 1,047,000 employed persons. Unemployment rate was estimated to be 4.9 percent in April 2011 and 5.0 percent in April 2012. Meanwhile, underemployment rate went down by six percentage points, from 29.0 percent in April 2011 to 23.0 percent in April 2012. (Tables 7a and 7b)

Other indicators on tourism

Based on the 2011 Philippine Tourism Satellite Account (PTSA) released by the NSCB, the tourism direct gross value added (TDGVA), which measures the value added of different industries in response to activities of both domestic and inbound visitors, was estimated to be PhP 571.3 billion in 2011, higher by 10.2 percent compared to PhP 518.5 billion in the previous year. In terms of the share to the country’s gross domestic product, the tourism sector contributed 5.9 percent to the economy in 2011. The sector’s contribution to the economy has been growing steadily through the years, yielding an average of 5.8 percent for the years 2000 to 2011. (Table 8)

The tourism sector is also a large provider of employment in the country. Tourism-related industries employed about 3.8 million persons in 2011 or 10.3 percent of the total employment in the country for the period. In particular, passenger transport provided the most number of jobs at 1.5 million. Restaurants and similar industries was second, generating about 989,000 jobs in 2011. Employment generation for these two tourism characteristic industries also saw the fastest growth in 2011, both increasing by 6.8 percent compared to their levels in 2010. (Table 9)

Concluding remarks

The national government, local governments, and the private sector should work hand in hand to attain the targets in the tourism sector and be able to contribute immensely to inclusive growth and employment generation. And in promoting the Philippines as a major tourist destination and in increasing our tourism competitiveness, we should not also forget about the ecological aspects/issues that have to be addressed if we want to sustain all our efforts in making tourism a driver of economic growth.

While enhancements in the tourism infrastructure and facilities and in the tourism industry are being programmed, there are also improvements that need to be done in terms of monitoring the tourism activities and generating better quality tourism statistics in the country. This would serve as basis for evidence-based planning and decision making for the tourism sector in particular and for the Philippine economy in general.

So if you are a local tourist, you are not just relaxing or enjoying the fun and adventures - you are also contributing to the economy. I am hoping that more of our tycoons, other than Gokengwei, can significantly invest in making this country more marketable not only to foreign tourists, but to local tourists as well. I also hope that our hotels can try to be more competitive with their accommodation costs as total revenues are a sum of unit prices multiplied by quantities. These hotels can certainly bring down their costs and get more volume, and still yield a nifty profit.

By the way, let me take this opportunity to hope that we shall all vote wisely on May 13! Let us hope that the officials we get to elect, together with other current government officials, will be able to govern our country well, and inspire us to work harder at sustaining growth and development, especially the tourism sector! And Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers!

1Secretary General of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB). The NSCB, a statistical agency functionally attached to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), is the highest policy making and coordinating body on statistical matters in the Philippines. Immediately prior to his appointment at NSCB, Dr. Albert was a Senior Research Fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, a policy think tank attached to NEDA. Dr. Albert finished summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from the De La Salle University in 1988. He completed a Master of Science in Statistics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1989 and a Ph.D. in Statistics from the same university in 1993. He is a Professorial Lecturer at the Decision Sciences and Innovation Department of Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University. He is also a past President of the Philippine Statistical Association, a Fellow of the Social Weather Stations, and an Elected Regular Member of the National Research Council of the Philippines.

This article was co-written by Cynthia S. Regalado and John Lourenze S. Poquiz, Statistical Coordination Officer VI and Statistical Coordination Officer III, respectively of the NSCB. This article was translated in Filipino by Assistant Secretary General Lina V. Castro and Virginia M. Bathan of NSCB. The authors thank Stephanie Rose R. Moscoso, Andrea C. Baylon, Candido J. Astrologo, Simonette Nisperos and Noel S. Nepomuceno of the NSCB, respectively, for the assistance in the preparation of the article. The views expressed in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NSCB and its Technical Staff.

Notes:
1. Due to the adoption of the 2009 Philippine Standard Industrial Classification (PSIC) starting January 2012 LFS, historical data between subsectors not strictly comparable. As such, data are presented at the sectoral levels only.
2. Details may not add to totals due to rounding of figures.